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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tolamaker" data-source="post: 8600805" data-attributes="member: 7031495">Session 26 (Technically last week's, but I was lazy)Shalosha enters a council she was not invited to, and imperiously announces Shahalesti as the only power that can face down Ragesia. She tells the other nathions’ delegates to throw in with Shahalesti, and offers her own hel, by taking control of Seaquen and protecting it form outside forces. Everyone explodes into hubbub, and Eluriah voices her dislike of the elvish princess. When Simeon calms everyone down, Eluriah tells Shalosha that if she wants to prove that she wants to help, figure out what is going on the with storm that is building. Shalosha looks concerned, as though a mask has been cracked, as the Shahalesti were unaware that the storm only extended around Seaquen.As the Shahalesti leave, the group goes to Simeon’s office, where he slumps, tired. He thanks them for their news of the storm, and offers some news of his own, regarding the Ragesian intelligence they received. He says that the creator of the intelligence was Kreven, second-in-command of the Inquisitors, though he’s unsure of his place now that Leska has taken the throne. Simeon says that they contain orders for the Scourge, rounding up “disloyal” mages. However there seems to be something else going on, as references to the Scourge don’t only sound like a military operation, but as if something is being pieced together. He says that if the group is able to find more intelligence, he may be able to figure out more of the code.Leaving the office, the group speaks with Laurabec, to learn more about the missing people. She says that it is almost all 20-30 year old adults, but only humans and half-orcs. No full orcs have been taken from the refugees, as far as she knows. Gruz pulls Diashan aside and asks her to her face what she was doing in Innenotdar. Diashan blanches, and tells him to meet her before the play at the Wayfarer’s Theater.Traveling to the refugee camps, they question those who have lost friends and family. The throughline seems to be those who have been finding work or begging in the town at night. Eluriah wildshapes into a bloodhound, and follows the scent of one of the refugees, and it leads them to the docks, where the seawater and rain has washed away any remaining scent. However, she then begins sniffing for dead bodies, and they find a rotting corpse who has been caught on the timber below the docks. Gruz calls over some Dasseni soldiers, and they pull the body up. It is the body of a half-orc woman, who appears to have vitiligo. Her body is green, but her neck and up has faded into that of a white human’s. Orwin and Mishka investigate, finding no identifying articles, but do note that her tusks are so small they might be normal canines, and her ears look to be pointed. When Mishka feels the neck, where the colors change, she notes that it feels similar to her scalp after she used the biomancers hair growth potion. Orwin muses that someone was trying to make her look like an elf.Post-Session ThoughtsSo, I had kind of been feeling that I had left the kidnapping plot aside too long, and this confirmed it. If I had brought it up earlier, I have no doubt they would have followed it and found the [SPOILER]Ragesian base in the pyromancer's tomb[/SPOILER]. As it is, they are forced to pick between following this murder investigation and going to the play, which they've also voiced as having high-priority targets. While making players have to choose between two bad choices can be interesting, I haven't had a chance to think about how I could have rejiggered the plot so that there wasn't one "correct" way to go about it.I made up all of the investigation stuff as we went along. It's been a little bit since I was surprised at the direction they wanted to go, but I think it went alright! I remember when I first started and had no clue how to run a game at all, I would get real mush-mouthed and kind of hem and haw as I tried to shove them back onto my little path. I still do that to an extent, but I'd like to think I'm a little more artful about it.Changes to the moduleThe idea behind the body was that it was [SPOILER]a test run where Lee discovered he wasn't skilled enough at biomancy to believably change skin color and the more prominent features yet. Remember that I have removed Paradim from the conspiracy, so Lee has been asking Paradim about biomantic theory, pretending that it is only for his own body modifications. The body was dumped, and he made sure Brutus and Setales only nabbed humans and human-leaning half orcs.[/SPOILER]Next, the group goes to a play!</blockquote>

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